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How to identify and sell the next property hotspot

As a real estate agent and a property buyer, being ahead of the curve and ahead of other property buyers and investors is a difficult thing to achieve. You are in competition with other property professionals to define the next-up-and-coming area in any city around the world, and convince your clients it is the place to buy.

For certain, once you hear or read that an area has been highlighted as the next property hotspot it’s already too late.

So, how exactly do you define a property hotspot, and sell it to Chinese buyers?

In simple terms a hotspot is an area that has the potential to outperform other areas in the same location, and to achieve decent capital gains and increasing rental returns. In most cities you can rule out anywhere that’s not within an easy commute to substantial commercial areas or places that people work. At any one time you could hear about five or six potential hotspots in one city alone, but as a property professional you need to have the evidence to prove it. Plans for new property developments are always a good indicator of things to come.

Things like newly-revealed transportation links or spending on infrastructure will help to prove you case.

It’s really unlikely that existing property hotspots will offer the kinds of returns that buyers and investors will be looking for in future years

If you think about a city as one giant lake and drop a pebble into the middle, the ripples created will extend outwards and the fringes, where the ripple takes longer to reach, could be the ones to experience more price growth. These areas will be more affordable compared with the centre of the city, and over time will benefit from a greater degree of infrastructure development.

Your instinct will be, more often than not, to search for more affordable areas for your potential buyers. Your mission as a property professional is to identify these up-and-coming areas before anyone else, and market them heavily before others.

Here’s one last, simple tip.

Read the news, especially as it relates to infrastructure developments. Look at commercial and retail property developments in detail because they could be an important indicator for any future residential property hotspot.